Outdoor facilities typically provide benches or seats to facilitate use by spectators. Often the spectators pay for admission or otherwise provide a form of compensation to the host of the outdoor event. Enhancing the comfort of spectators can increase attendance and thereby may increase revenue received by the event host.
However, most outdoor facilities have little or no form of seat cushioning. This is in part due to the harsh outdoor environment. The seats are often permanently installed outdoors. Any seat or bench cushions or padding device may also be subject to vandalism or destruction by natural elements. There is accordingly a need for a lightweight, compact inexpensive cushion that can be carried by an individual and that is adaptable for use with seats, benches or bleachers. There is also a need for a cushion that can be temporarily fastened to the bleacher, bench seat or similar structure in order that it will stay in place when the occupant shifts position, stands or moves. It can be readily appreciated that an unsecured cushion may drop down from a bleacher-seating surface to the support structure below, and may be permanently lost to the user.
Furthermore, it is beneficial to have a seat cushion that can also be utilized to increase seating comfort when used in any outdoor or indoor environments, including improving indoor seating and seating during outdoor activities that do not involve seats or benches, such as camping, beach activities and picnics.
In past, various patents have issued relating to such seat cushions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,386, issued on Jul. 1, 1986 to M. I. Goldstein, teaches a lumbar support system. This lumbar support system includes a panel and a cushion assembled in supporting contact. The panel is flexibly formed in the transverse shape of a columnar beam providing rigidity on the longitudinal axis of the lumbar lordosis of a human body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,241, issued on May 15, 1990 to R. J. Geraci, describes a portable seat cushion for sporting events. This portable seat cushion includes a pair of cushions that are joined together by a flexible hinge at one end. This allows a variety of seating configurations. Each of the cushions includes a flexible enclosure having a resilient material contained therein. An elastic strap is attached to the opposite side of the back surface of at least one cushion. This elastic strap may be used to surround the associated portion of a chair, thereby retaining the portable cushion in a selected position. A hook-and-loop fastener is provided to releasably join the two cushions at generally the ends opposite the flexible hinge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,463, issued on Feb. 9, 1999 to MacKenze et al., describes a seat cushion with selectively inflatable interior seat and back compartments. The compartment has an openable and closable seat valve for selectively communicating with ambient atmosphere. The foam within the compartment is expanded and compressed within the seat compartment in relation to selective application of a compression force acting on the seat valve that is opened to selectively draw inflating air into and exhaust inflating air from the seat compartment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inflatable seat cushion that can be used on a bench at sporting events, camping activities, boating and other outdoor activities.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an inflatable seat cushion which allows air to be easily introduced into and removed from the interior compartment of the seat cushion.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable seat cushion whereby the cushion can be attached to a variety of different widths and/or lengths of benches.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable seat cushion that can be easily folded and stored in a compact configuration.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a portable inflatable seat cushion that can be secured to a person's belt.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable seat cushion having a convoluted surface that easily and comfortably conforms to the buttocks of a person sitting on the cushion.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a portable seat cushion that is easy to use, easy to inflate, easy to deflate, easy to store, relatively easy to manufacture and relatively inexpensive.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.